Technical Prose

1. Technical Prose Summer Technical Communication Workshop Jacob Rawlins, ISU Dept. of English

2. Agenda Jacob Rawlins, ISU Dept. of English

3. Introduction/Review What is Research. What to Write. Jacob Rawlins, ISU Dept. of English

4. What is research? What is research? Or, What should a good research article or presentation do? Answers: • Answer a question • Solve a problem • Participate in a conversation • Convince an audience • Employ empirical evidence • Lead to future developments Jacob Rawlins, ISU Dept. of English

5. Elements of Research Jacob Rawlins, ISU Dept. of English

6. Purpose of Research Elements Jacob Rawlins, ISU Dept. of English

7. Technical Reports • …Rely on previous research. • …Contribute to a disciplinary conversation. • …Fill a GAP or NEED in disciplinary knowledge. • …Revolve around a RESEARCH QUESTION and HYPOTHESIS. • …Generate new questions. Jacob Rawlins, ISU Dept. of English

8. Contents of Good Introductions Move 1. Establish field • Assert centrality • State current knowledge Move 2. Summarize previous research • Represent the conversation Move 3. Prepare for present research • Indicate a gap ie, Knowledge is lacking, incomplete, inconclusive, or wrong Move 4. Introduce present research • How the current research fills the gap Swales, J. (1990) Genre analysis: English in academic and research settings. Cambridge. Jacob Rawlins, ISU Dept. of English

9. Activity 1 • Identify the 4 moves in a sample introduction • Write an introduction for your own research project Jacob Rawlins, ISU Dept. of English

10. Planning What to Write Jacob Rawlins, ISU Dept. of English

11. Present Facts Avoid distortion from: • incomplete facts • lack of context • oversimplification Jacob Rawlins, ISU Dept. of English

12. Example • Adding soy protein to a person’s diet improves the quality of the diet. • But… • Many factors determine the quality of a diet. Depending on the rest of the diet, adding soy may result in excess protein or other problems. • So… • The inclusion of soy protein in a person’s diet may have economic, nutritional, and sensory benefits. Jacob Rawlins, ISU Dept. of English

13. Draw Inferences • When you draw inferences make sure they are logically valid Avoid: • Making hasty generalizations • Relying on irrelevant or unfounded assumptions • Suggesting that characteristics of an individual component can be attributed to the whole Jacob Rawlins, ISU Dept. of English

14. Example • Peanut butter on wheat bread is a protein dish of high biological value (it is a “complete protein”), therefore, peanut butter alone or wheat bread alone has a high biological value (is a complete “protein”). • But… • The statement assumes both constituent parts contribute equally to the characteristics of the whole. • So… • Peanut butter combined with wheat bread is a protein of high biological value. Jacob Rawlins, ISU Dept. of English

15. Causal Relationships Avoid implying causation when it is not appropriate For example, • If the condition is not a sufficient cause • If the variables are not correlated Jacob Rawlins, ISU Dept. of English

16. Example • The patient’s heart attack was caused because his diet contained too much cholesterol. • But… • Heart disease is caused by a number of contributing factors. Cholesterol is one, but this patient may have risk factors like smoking, obesity, family history, or high blood pressure. • So… • High cholesterol may have contributed to the patient’s heart disease. Jacob Rawlins, ISU Dept. of English

17. Activity 2 • Analyze statements based on empirical facts • Identify problems • Rewrite improved versions Jacob Rawlins, ISU Dept. of English

18. Drafting 1: How to Write Person, Agent, Act, Patient Jacob Rawlins, ISU Dept. of English

19. “Never use I” • Misleading advice • Never rely on personal opinion (“I think…” ) is better. • Often leads to over-use of passive voice Jacob Rawlins, ISU Dept. of English

20. Voice Active Passive “Standard” More interesting Easier to read Identifies key actors, agents “Alternative” Difficult to read when used to much Conceals key actors, agents Emphasis can be varied Jacob Rawlins, ISU Dept. of English

21. Example • The fingerprint is overrated by Hollywood lore as a way to catch criminals • Or… • Hollywood lore overrates the fingerprint as a way to catch criminals Jacob Rawlins, ISU Dept. of English

22. A strategy • Consider: • Fingerprints are collected only between 25 and 30 percent of the time, even though they are usually the most prevalent form of physical evidence at the scene of a crime. • What is the ACT? • What is the AGENT? • What is the PATIENT? Jacob Rawlins, ISU Dept. of English

23. Result • ACT: collecting • AGENT: unknown. Investigators? • PATIENT: fingerprints • Investigators collect fingerprints only between 25 and 30 percent of the time, even though they are usually the most prevalent form of physical evidence at the scene of a crime. • Note the consequence: the emphasis is now placed on “investigators” Jacob Rawlins, ISU Dept. of English

24. Activity 3 • Read a passage, taking note of person. • Analyze agent, act and patient. • Rewrite with emphasis on most important agents and using subject-verb-object word order. Jacob Rawlins, ISU Dept. of English

25. Break Please be back in 5 minutes Jacob Rawlins, ISU Dept. of English

26. Drafting 2: How to Write Active Voice, Plain Language, and Density Jacob Rawlins, ISU Dept. of English

27. Plain language • Avoid adding words that don’t add meaning • “very”, “There are…”, “It is…” • Avoid unusual or archaic words • “Whereas”, “herein”, “utilize” • “Never use 2 words when 1 will do” • dark red vs burgundy • Avoid pronouns • “they” vs “the client” or “the participant” Jacob Rawlins, ISU Dept. of English

28. Activity 4 • Read and revise a passage of text. • Focus on using plain language and carrying meaning with accurate nouns and verbs. • Avoid wordiness. Jacob Rawlins, ISU Dept. of English

29. Drafting 3: How to Write Given-New Analysis Jacob Rawlins, ISU Dept. of English

30. Given-New • Always move from what is known to what is unknown. • Repeated given-new structure creates a chain. • Process: • Start with written piece. • Ask: in this sentence, paragraph, section, what does my audience already know? • Ask: what does my audience not already know? • Ask: Are there any cases when I’m introducing something new/unknown without having it directly linked to something they DO know?

31. Example Jacob Rawlins, ISU Dept. of English

32. Activity 5 • Read a paragraph • Use given-new analysis to identify its structure • Recommend changes to improve the linearity of the paragraph. Jacob Rawlins, ISU Dept. of English

33. Revising Improving Writing Jacob Rawlins, ISU Dept. of English

34. Language is important • Concrete details • Direct Language Jacob Rawlins, ISU Dept. of English

35. Concrete Details Jacob Rawlins, ISU Dept. of English

36. Direct Language • Your conceptualization of our aggregate capability may enhance our marketing position. • Or… • Your ideas about our capability may improve our marketing Jacob Rawlins, ISU Dept. of English

37. Direct Language • The judge provided the required authorization for the search. • Or… • The judge authorized the search. Jacob Rawlins, ISU Dept. of English

38. Activity 6 • Revise a passage. • Eliminate words without meaning • Use accurate, specific, simple nouns and verbs • Employ concrete details and direct language Jacob Rawlins, ISU Dept. of English

39. Proofreading Strategies Jacob Rawlins, ISU Dept. of English

40. Proofreading is Iterative • Writing IS re-writing • Many levels of proofreading: • Mechanical conventions (punctuation, capitalization, spelling) • Grammatical conventions (grammar, usage) • Design conventions (typography, visual displays, headings) • Disciplinary conventions (abbreviations, citations) • Typographical conventions (symbols, numbers) Jacob Rawlins, ISU Dept. of English

41. Recommendations • Handbooks are irreplaceable • Good editors are irreplaceable • Look at one level at a time • Print report on paper • Read the paper aloud Jacob Rawlins, ISU Dept. of English

42. Writing Workshop Jacob Rawlins, ISU Dept. of English

43. Wrapping Up My contact: jrawlins@iastate.edu 515-509-6336 Jacob Rawlins, ISU Dept. of English